Soldier, Sportsman And Legendary Farmer

Neville Fletcher of Cathcart in the Eastern Cape is an extraordinary man. A war veteran who saw action in the fierce Italian campaign, he returned to South Africa to enjoy a long, highly successful farming career. As if that were not enough, he was a national champion in both tennis and gymkhana. Mike Burgess visited him.

- Mike Burgess

I have no regrets,’’ says 90-year-old Neville “ Fletcher. “I’ve done what I wanted to do.’’

Neville is a Second World War veteran from Cathcart in the Eastern Cape who fought with distinction in the war, returned to play sport at a national level, and ultimately farmed on nine farms. His sons, Craig and Grant, are also farmers and continue the Fletcher family’s agricultural legacy.

CHILDHOOD AND WWII

In 1862, Neville’s great grandfather, Joseph, left Cuylerville near Bathurst in the Eastern Cape to build the military road between Cathcart and Queenstown on the Cape’s extreme Eastern Frontier. Not long afterwards, he settled on the isolated frontier farm, Dungella. Here, in rugged country, Neville’s grandfather, Walter, and later his father, Clayton, farmed cattle and goats.

Neville travelled 38km a day on horseback to attend primary school in Tylden, and later went to Queen’s College in Queenstown. Many boys from the school enlisted in the Union Army, and Neville joined as a reservist in 1943 at the age of 17.

“My brother, Edgar, was turned down because he had a weak heart,’’ recalls Neville. “So I said I would go.’’

After training in Potchefstroom, Neville was enlisted into the 723 rd Artillery attached to the SA 6 th Armoured Division and deployed to Egypt. On arrival in Cairo, he was disappointed to discover that it would take some time before he could enter the military action beyond the Mediterranean.

“The Allies were chasing the Germans towards Turin in Italy,’’ he remembers. “We never got into the line until after Sicily.’’